Celebrating success of two new initiatives

In her latest blog post, chief executive Julie Gillon has described the success of two new initiatives over the last year.

“Every year we hold an annual general meeting where we update members of the public, staff and governors about the latest developments at the trust.

“There are so many fantastic initiatives taking place at this trust – our AGM is a great opportunity to tell people about some of these.

“Anyone is welcome to come along, subject to space – we are committed to openness and transparency.

“This year’s AGM, held last week at the University Hospital of North Tees, was another very interesting one.

“The event included a presentation from our urgent and emergency care service. Having the urgent care service in our two hospitals at North Tees and Hartlepool means patients are always being seen in the right place at the right time.

“This has not gone unnoticed nationally – we are consistently one of the best performing trusts for urgent and emergency care in the country. The patient pathway is really impressive to see. Patients who present at the hospital are being streamed to the appropriate place.

“We also heard about improvements we have made in the care of frail elderly patients. The team have clearly defined what frailty means and have set clear principles in place – that frail patients should not be admitted without good reason and should be home safe sooner, reducing prolonged lengths of stay in hospital.

“Two things have helped achieve this – the frailty screening tool and a new dedicated frailty service – Home Safe, Sooner. Since the start of the year we have had frailty co-ordinators at the front of house in emergency care. They are identifying frail patients, working collaboratively with Tees Esk and Wear Valley mental health trust and working with multi-agency organisations, care homes and families. They are also working with staff to develop management plans to get patients home safe, sooner.

“The results have been fantastic. The majority of patients are now not staying more than seven days in hospital. They are able to go home where they can continue to get better in comfort and where we know their recovery is quicker. And it isn’t stopping there, further improvements are on the way for the service which I will update you about soon.”